Why Helicopter Parents in China Buy Watches, Not Phones, for Their Kids

SHANGHAI—When Jane Ding’s son headed on his first field trip in kindergarten, she was worried he would get lost. So she and her husband bought a gadget that has become ubiquitous for parents across China’s cities: a smartwatch for children.

With the watch made by Chinese brand Xiaotiancai, which means “Little Genius,” they could track their child’s location and video chat with him, among other features.

They sneaked the watch into their son’s backpack because electronic devices weren’t allowed on the field trip. After the outing, they introduced the watch to their son, Larix, and taught him how to use it. Now he is 8 years old and wears it whenever he goes out to play.

“It has a lot of functions that are really helpful for parents,” said Ding, 39.

About one in three children age 5 to 12 own a children’s smartwatch in China, and the figure rises to more than half in urban areas, according to state media.

Little Genius—marketed as Imoo outside of China—introduced its first smartwatch in 2015. It commands nearly half of global sales of young people’s smartwatches, which exceeded $1 billion in the first half of 2026, according to technology market research firm Counterpoint Research. China is the biggest market for children’s smartwatches, making up 58% of global sales in the first half of the year, according to the firm.

In China, Little Genius watches start at the equivalent of about $90, and some cost more than $300.

They use SIM cards, like phones, and offer payment apps so parents can load money onto the watches for their children to spend. Some models have 3-D location tracking that can pinpoint which floor of a building the wearer is on.

Larix doesn’t leave the house alone, but the watch gives his parents peace of mind in case he gets lost at the mall or they lose track of him at the park.

“If he didn’t have a watch, I would be very worried,” said his father, Jimmy Poek, 40. “I’d have to keep him in my sight at all times.”

On a recent Saturday, the family went out to the playground in their neighborhood, with Larix sporting his watch. Many of the kids running around were also wearing Little Genius watches.

A central feature of Little Genius watches is that children can tap their smartwatches together to add each other as friends on the brand’s social network, where they can chat with each other, post updates, and like and comment on posts. Schoolmates with smartwatches from other brands such as Apple, Xiaomi or Huawei can’t join.

That means parents often feel they have no choice but to buy a Little Genius.

At the playground, Larix ran into his friend, Gu Ling’en, who was among the first friends he added on his watch. Gu said the feature she likes the most about her Little Genius watch is the chat function—and the camera. The two snapped a selfie.

“I can chat with friends, and add more and more friends. It’s so fun!” said Gu, 9.

Gu’s mother, 35-year-old Mo Chanping, said she bought the Little Genius watch after hearing about it in a group chat with other parents and seeing videos about the watch on WeChat, China’s do-everything app.

Little Genius watches have been criticized in state media and on social media for sometimes being addictive and fueling social anxiety. They are banned in many classrooms. The company didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Jiang Kai, a 48-year-old father of two, recently spent about $200 each on new Little Genius smartwatches for his children. He worries they might compare their watches to classmates who have more expensive models and feel disappointed.

“They might think, ‘Why did Mom and Dad buy me a cheap one?’” Jiang said.

For many parents, however, a Little Genius smartwatch feels safer than a smartphone with unrestricted access to the internet. They can manage who is on their kids’ contact lists and control which apps and games they use.

Zhang Hongli, 39, doesn’t plan to buy a phone for her 12-year-old daughter until she is in high school or college. Zhang uses a Little Genius smartwatch to check her daughter’s location and call her, while disabling games and other apps.

“She can probably use a cellphone now, but I feel it’s harder to control than a smartwatch,” said Zhang.